There ought to be a statute of limitations on how long a jazz vocal track can last. I was listening to a New York jazz station, and they played a track, which at the time sounded like it had African lyrics, but in fact turned out to be a made-up language.

OK, I give the artist points for innovation. He, she, or they (it was a chorus of singers) came up with something a little unusual and Pandora-ish — that is to say the fictitious world of Pandora from the filmAvatar, rather than the internet radio site of the same name — and at least for the first three minutes it was engaging.

The song, a medium swing tune with the faux-African jibberish, was not the worst melody you had ever heard, but there was nothing, save from the language, that was particularly interesting about it. About six minutes in I turned to my friend, who was driving us home from lunch, and said, “Is this ever going to end?” My friend was wondering if Charles Dickens had written for singers. The song was like a mini-series. I was wondering if perhaps the DJ had to go to the bathroom and needed a track to eat up a large swath of time.

Folks, when you’re dealing with singers you have to get in and out of the song. No extended choruses please! A little brevity can go a long way.

Finally the song ended and it was followed up, mercifully, by a Frank Wess recording. Frank is 89 years old today and could not, even if he wanted to, play a solo that is too long!